380 Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces in last 20 days

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli forces have detained at least 380 Palestinians in raids across the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the last three weeks, including 21 early Thursday alone.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a statement on Thursday that Israeli authorities have engaged in a wide-ranging crackdown on Palestinians that has led to the arrests of nearly 200 in East Jerusalem since the beginning of November.

The startling figures come amid growing instability in Jerusalem, while daily protest marches by Palestinians have been held across the city and Israeli authorities have been accused of “collective punishment” in their response to a series of attacks by individual Jerusalem Palestinians on Israelis.

In addition to the 190 Palestinians detained in East Jerusalem, the PPS said that 70 were from Hebron, 32 from Ramallah, 24 from Bethlehem, 18 from Jenin, 14 from Tulkarem, 14 from Nablus, nine from Tubas, five from Salfit, and four from Qalqiliya.

The arrests add to the more than 5,000 Palestinians who are already being held in Israeli prisons, including hundreds without charge or trial under a procedure known as “administrative detention.”

On Thursday morning, Israeli forces reportedly detains dozens more across East Jerusalem and the West Bank, which have both been under military occupation since 1967.

An Israeli military spokesman said that they detained 20 Palestinians in the West Bank, including five “suspected of taking part in riots in Jenin (refugee) camp,” three east of Qalqiliya, two southeast of Ramallah, eight in the Bethlehem area, three in al-Fawwar refugee camp south of Hebron, three in Deir Samit west of Hebron, and one in Beit Awwa southwest of Hebron.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society was able to identify only fourteen of those arrested by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.

According to the statement, Abd al-Rahman Atiq and Ahmad Mahmoud Jumaa were detained in Jenin in the northern West Bank.

In East Jerusalem, meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said that Israeli police detained seven young men and minors.

Lawyer Mufid al-Hajj, who works with the society, identified four of the detainees as Ahmad Agha, Samir Najib, and Ubada Najib (all minors), in addition to Wahid Bakri.

The wave of arrests comes as Israeli authorities continue a summer crackdown that led to the detention of thousands of Palestinians suspected in taking part in protests against the Israeli assault on Gaza, which left nearly 2,200 Palestinians dead, and the murder of Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir.

One thought on “380 Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces in last 20 days”

The only so called ‘State’ on the planet to be engaged in such nefarious activities, left unchecked in a seven decades long occupation of land, people and their rightful day to day place in THEIR home land.